Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-11-23
CANNIBAL COOKERY.
A Game of Whist in Which a
Man-Eater Took Part.

a 0aulo OF "n1SC IL Wl1Ch a
Man-Eater Took Part.
have known two cannibals intimately,
and they We're both agreeable men, says a
writer in the New York Mail and r1press.
One was my host in New Zealand and the
other my partner at whist in FIJI. The race
is dying out so fast, and the opportunity of
counting cannibal among your acquaint-
snce is growing so rare, that my impress
sions of them and this remark on the sub
ject may not be without interest.
During trip through the North Island of
New Zealand in 1880 met in the vicinity of
the beautiful Bay of Islands the old Maori
chief, TIE Hemera. At this time he was APP
preaching eighty years of age, but his intel
lect was bright and his memory apparently
unimpaired. In his younger days he must
have been a man of magnificent physique,
but now he was bent and withered and his
wonderfully tattooed face resembled some
curiously-mottlcd piece of parchment. All
his life he'd been passed in the North Island,
m silly in the neighborhood of Paihia.
He well remembered the arrival of the
first white settlers, and many and Won
derful were the yarns he told about
them. On the subject Of cannibalism he
spoke as an expert, having partaken of
many human joint. From him learned
that the Maoris never INDUCED in cannibal-
ism except in the case of enemies killed or
taken prisoner in battle. Prisoners, how
ever, were often kept for years as slaves,
and then, on the occasion of some great
feast occurring, taken and killed. This
would account for the stories told by the
early missionary settlers of the slaughter of
human victims in time of peace. Rarely,
except after big battle, or the wreck of
some ship on their rock-bound coast, did the
Macris indulge in q human banquet. The
feast was conducted with considerable cere-
mony in q ''pah'> specially reserved for the
purpose and which went by the name of
''Kai Taugata,'' which means Eat Man"
The method of cooking was as follows: The
body was hung up to beam by the neck,
scalded with boiling water and carefully
Scraped with oyster shells. It was then
taken down, the hair all cut off and the head
decapitated The brain being considered a
great delicacy, was reserved for the chief.
In the case of men killed in battle the heart
WAS the property of the slayer. The entrails
were then taken out and the trunk filed
win hot stones. It was then placed IN an
oven built in the ground, covered over with
stones, and allowed to cook for at least
twelve hours It was customary to place
the body in the oven about sunset, and
the whole night during which the cook
ing was going on was passed in
1ed sting and dancing. At early dawn the
meat was taken out and cut up for
distribution. Some of the flesh was
given to the women, and each man, on re-
ceiTing his share, retired to his ''pah' and
ate it in private. TIE Hemera could give
me 40 reason for this last custom, which is
avery curious one, as at all other banuuets
the food is eaten in public. I fancy it must
have originated from the fact that their in
ordinate greed for human flesh was apt to
lead to quarrels during the consumption of
it. For it is held to be a heinous crime to
do any thing to disturb the sacred harmony
during the progress Of a feast. Should
this be solution of the custom, it may be
taken as confirmation of the theory that
the practice of cannibalism tends to brutal
ize those who indulge in it. To show how
all absorbing the taste becomes, TIE He
mera told me that, on one occasion, young
girl was allotted to him as portion of
number of slaughtered victims, and, put
ting her into canoe, he carried her far
from the settlement into the bush, and
there remained until he had finished her.
Can any thing more CHASTITY be imagined
than this weird feast in the depths of a
New Zealand forest. Never, we are apt to
imagine does man feel more near God than
when he PAGES in solitude the paths of some
terantless wild. How passing strange is it
that man, clothed in the very image of his
Maker, men created but little lower than
the angels, should be capable of devouring,
with ghoulish glee, his fellow-men. con
TESS that, after hearing this story, felt a
loathing for the old man which I never got
over, and was not sorry to leave him and
his grim "reminiscences far behind, while I
betook myself to fresh fields and pastures
new.
From New Zealand to the Fiji Islands is
no great distance, and during fortnight's
stay in that lovely group met several no
torious cannibals. Moreover, I experienced
the novel sensation of playing a rub
Der of whist with one of them. At
the time of the visit King Thak-
ambau was alive and much given to
hospitality to any travellers who visited De-
vaka. A handsome allowance from the
British Government enabled him to indulge
this within to his hearts content, and every
evening an entertainment of some sort was
provided at the palace. ThsAambau was
then sixty-three years of age, but looked
older; fnelooking man standing over six
feet in height, with intelligent but crafty
features. He had discarded native costume
and usually appeared dressed IN black
frock coat and stoye-pipe hat, which did
not add to his dignity. One evening and
friend strolled into the Kings garden and
found him sitting on the verandah of one Of
his houses playing euchre with his son,
Prince Abel. As we watched the game and
c1iatted about cards was surprised to learn
that Thakanibau knew whist. It appeared
that be had learnt the game few years
ago before when he was the guest Of Sir
pie, however, and Prince Abel denounced it
emphstically as "fool game" At the
Kin1's suggestion we sat down to rubber.